Report: Security service chief says Telegram situation difficult

MOSCOW, Nov 8 (PRIME) -- The situation with access to encryption keys of Telegram, blocked in Russia since April, stays complicated because the messenger is not ready to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in fighting terrorism, the Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov said on Thursday.

Telegram earlier refused to hand over to the service access to encryption keys, saying it did not wish to violate users’ rights, Bortnikov said, adding that the messenger promised to “clean the information field” itself.

According to Telegram, about 5,000 users of the messenger have committed actions revealing their ties to terrorism. “The question arises: give us the information so that we could take into account, but they wouldn’t,” Bortnikov said.

Consensus should be found with Telegram to achieve understanding and cooperation from the messenger in security issues.

Bortnikov said that “there is an opportunity (to get encryption keys) somewhere and somewhere not,” for Other messengers, like Viber and WhatsÀpp.

Despite blocking, Telegram is available for most of its users in the country, because the messenger constantly changes IP addresses.

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